This Thursday, November 10 from 7 to 9pm there will be a Town Hall meeting on the plans to add a commercial office tower and hotel to the historic Chelsea Market complex. All are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting, find out more, and express your opposition to the plans. The Town Hall will be held at the Church of the Holy Apostles at 296 9th Avenue, at 28th Street.

Jamestown Properties is seeking zoning changes to allow the construction of a large commercial office tower above the western end of Chelsea Market, and a new hotel at the corner of 16th Street and 9th Avenue; under current zoning for the site, no such construction is allowable, as the enormous complex is already slightly larger than the zoning allows. In 2007 GVSHP was able to get the entire Chelsea Market complex listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places, after in 2003 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to include the complex in the Gansevoort Market Historic District they designated as we had originally proposed (State and National Register listing provides incentives for preservation, but does not prevent demolition or out-of-scale new construction as NYC landmark designation does).

The proposed new construction would have a huge impact upon what has been one of the most successful and iconic examples of adaptive re-use in New York City; it would also likely loom over the low-rise Gansevoort Market Historic District to the south, and shadow the new High Line park. Neighbors have also expressed concerns about traffic and over-commercialization of an otherwise predominantly residential area.

The application to rezone Chelsea Market is expected to be filed in the coming weeks; it is therefore critical to attend this meeting to communicate to Community Board #4 and to elected officials such as Borough President Stringer and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who will be voting on the rezoning, the concerns the community has.